Hello bot believers,

Happy impending pride month! I hope you all are well. <3

While folks over on my Discord have gotten to see these bits and bobs as they've come to pass, now that I've survived the gauntlet of Spooky Circuit fulfillment back-to-back with vending a convention in the UK for the first time, I'm due to write a formal update for you amazing folks!!

Literally the day before I left for Confuzzled, a gigantic box of silky, colorful bandanas arrived at my home.

They're all the same airy satin material and the prints look lovely, I'm absolutely pleased. The Water Line colorway is cropped a little closer to the edge than the others for some reason, but not to a degree that's bothersome. I brought a very limited amount of bandanas along with me to the convention, and blue turned out to be the most requested color there by a long shot, which was interesting! (Through this campaign, Earth and Void were most ordered.)

A look at the other two! I ordered a ridiculous amount of extras, so there should be plenty for any additional add-ons during the remainder of our pre-order/survey period, and then some.

Light was the campaign underdog in terms of popularity, but it turned out so subtle and beautiful. I'm low key obsessed.

A handful of campaign backers said hey at Confuzzled, and it was a delight to meet you! Thank you everyone who stopped by!!

So as a summary: I now have the bulk stock in hand for the banners, keychains, and large bandanas. I ordered them early since they're all new items for me and I was uncertain about the turnaround times involved! Next, what's still in progress --

All 11 new bot boards have been sampled and, as we're sitting at a comfy 96% survey response rate, the bulk order has now been placed as well to the tune of 2560 total pins! Here are individual looks at the final three samples:

They turned out precisely as expected, but with the aesthetic of this series so closely tied to the materials themselves I find it's always more satisfying to see them in the metal. I've lost count of how many reviews also said the pictures don't do them justice (and thank you for that!!), but a photo is certainly still a step above a mockup. c:

I've wanted to do this pun since the first Short Circuit Backerkit; pleased to finally have them in the fold. X)

We're on track to have the pins complete by August, for August-September fulfillment of all orders that don't contain a plush or plush sized bandana.

My magnet supplier came through with a sample photo! It looks like I'll have to lighten the darkest grays slightly for a clean read, and otherwise we're golden.

My next art priority is therefore to finish up the piece of Malware & Mozzy so that I can place the bulk magnet order, and move along to formatting files for the sticker orders. Then the very last non-plush item is pin backing cards, which I have printed locally and are the fastest turnaround of all the components that go into these pin campaigns.

As a fun side note, I included small re-orders of both Malware and Mozzy's bot board pins in with the Soft Circuit bulk order! Both of them were sub-30 units left across both A and B (Mozzy being totally out of A Grades, and Malware almost out of Bs) and they're well loved enough to absolutely deserve it. Not every bot will be restocked over time, but I think the future has more in store for these two. <3

Some exciting news: as the total add-on and pre-order funds collected has continued to exceed my expectations, I've been able to once again lower the quantity of Python orders required to unlock their plush incarnation. We're now at 61 out of 64 orders, only 3 away from guaranteed bulk production!

I passed a version of the above flyer (with an added QR code) out at Confuzzled! I'm feeling confident we can secure those last few orders. If you know anybody who needs a robot noodle dragon in their life, definitely be sure to direct them to the Soft Circuit Pre-Order Store. c;

Late April I did receive another update on Byte, and the supplier finally understood about putting the green on the forehead rather than the ears, as a "socket"! The body is still absolutely perfect as well, now we've just got a few tiny embroidery and marking thickness details to shore up.

I keep trying to find different ways to communicate what we're after. They did darken the eye shading portion of the embroidery, but all the way to a brown rather than the requested darker orange. Thankfully the alternate Byte from supplier #2 and Python both are perfect color examples, so I'm hopeful that the next sample will be the one.

Updates are slow from this supplier, but I know I'm an itty bitty fish in the ocean of plush toy manufacturing and the final results will absolutely be worth the wait!

In the meantime, alternate!Byte from supplier #2 showed up - two of them even??

Their small bandanas are printed minky, which is NOT what the official version will be - those will be nylon, as described. The sizing should be about the same though!

One includes weighted particles in the paws and the other does not. Or rather - one tells only lies, and the other always speaks the truth. c;

Though this isn't the version we've gone with for the bulk robots, I'm really glad to have sampled for them as details of the prototypes from supplier #1 and #2 informed the notes I was able to give back and forth, and I REALLY enjoyed working with the representative for #2. I will absolutely be developing a separate line of plushies with them in the future. (Sighthound plush, anyone?? The gangly aspects of this pattern feel like a perfect starting point to stretch out further from!)

The other nice thing to have confirmed is that I like these guys so much better in person than I did in the manufacturer photos, so I can't wait to have official!Byte and Python in hand to take nicer pictures of them as well!

I think that about covers our current status. The hope is to have Byte and Python ready for bulk approval by around August, and everything else in hand. At that point I will lock orders down, charge for add-ons, pre-orders, and shipping, and non-plush orders will begin to go out while the plushies go into production.

The estimated fulfillment timeline for the plush remains January-February, but I will holler if any of that changes the second I have information to the contrary; as I've learned in prototyping, there's really no such thing as giving a plush project too much lead time.

Empowered by backers like you to continue making fun things, I have several upcoming campaigns in the works! Three of them already have teaser pages live, if you'd like to follow along:

🩸 Spectral Circuit, the next update to the Short Circuit 'verse, will be launching with Pintober 2026
🎮 Gears of GAIA, a love letter to another piece of media which straddles the intersection of tech and nature, will follow closely on its heels as part of Tributes
🐕 Proud Noodles will feature colorful sighthounds set to run in 2027 for Pin of Pride

Expect to see development on the artwork direction of all three over the next few months~

Thank you all as ever for being here, I appreciate your support in bringing these funky lil guys to life!! I'll be back in touch soon! 💚